Think Mrs May has problems? Corbyn’s are even WORSE

Theresa MaY will begin her alpine walking holiday next week feeling that her premiership has gradually strengthened after the grievous setback she suffered in the General election.

admittedly this is only the early stage of a recovery, but I predict that she will confound expectations and be acclaimed at the Tory Party Conference in Manchester in the autumn.

First, the Prime Minister is reaping the benefit from the resignation, following the June 8 result, of her two arrogant and deeply divisive chiefs of staff, Nick Timothy and Fiona hill.

she now has a much stronger Downing street machine.

The ruthless effectiveness of this team was witnessed last week in the way it dealt with the disgraceful outbreak of backbiting, briefing against the PM and disagreements about Brexit among Cabinet ministers.

New Downing street chief of staff Gavin Barwell, in alliance with the chief whip, Gavin Williamson, masterminded a brilliant operation to get Tory backbenchers to rise up and make it clear that such ministerial insubordination could prove suicidal and lead to Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister.

such a nightmare vision helped quell Cabinet insurrection and with her authority restored, Mrs May now has the confidence to sack any minister who steps out of line in the future.

Meanwhile, I expect a Cabinet reshuffle sooner rather than later.

andrea Leadsom, who pushed herself forward to replace David Cameron when he resigned last summer and has unwisely been touting her leadership prospects recently, is undoubtedly in Mrs May’s sights. ReGarDLess

of recent troubles, Mrs May’s position since the General election has not been as fragile as many critics have claimed.

It must never be forgotten that she, and not Jeremy Corbyn, won the election. True, the Tories did not secure an overall majority, but thanks to the deal with the Democratic Unionist Party, it is possible to get Government policy through the Commons.

Talk of the need for a fresh General election has fizzled out — apart from within Labour ranks. Indeed, some wise heads think the next one may not occur until 2022, as laid down under the Fixed-term Parliaments act.

No, the truth is that the recent hysteria about Mrs May’s future has distracted attention from the many troubles facing Mr Corbyn. he still leads a party riven by Left v right battles, has a shadow Cabinet of non-entities and presides over a hard-Left group intent on a wicked —and sometimes violent — campaign to purge Labour of anyone who does not agree with a rabidly socialist agenda.

Policy-wise, Mr Corbyn also faces a major dilemma. In his heart, he is wary of the eU — with a decades-long record of opposition to the Brussels-driven project for a european superstate.

That is why it has been suggested that a Corbyn government would leave the single market — a policy which aligns him with Tory hard-Brexiteers.

however, Mr Corbyn’s stance places him at odds with the majority of his party, particularly his shadow Brexit secretary sir Keir starmer. sir Keir apparently fancies his chances of replacing Mr Corbyn in due course.

Ironically, the Tory Party has always been considered vulnerable to splits over europe, but it is now Labour that has the potential to implode over it. Problems will be exacerbated over the coming months as the parliamentary timetable will be dominated by Brexit legislation.

some of Mr Corbyn’s strategists say he will try to copy the tactics of John smith, the Labour leader who, 25 years ago, opposed the Maastricht Treaty which extended Brussels’ powers to create the european superstate.

although the wily scot supported the treaty, he cynically allied himself with anti-Maastricht Tory rebels in order to damage John Major’s Conservative government. Could Mr Corbyn pull off a similar trick? I doubt it.

Despite his better than expected performance in the General election and an opinion poll lead, he doesn’t have the same authority Mr smith exercised over his MPs.

Nor is Brexit Mr Corbyn’s only problem. he has been embarrassed by the admission that Labour wouldn’t have been able to fund its manifesto pledge to abolish university fees — a measure that won the votes of hundreds of thousands of youngsters.

Meanwhile, far-Left supporters are clearly intent on taking over the Labour Party in much the same way that Derek hatton’s Militant Tendency attempted to in the early eighties.

This ugly civil war has seen moderate MP Luciana Berger viciously threatened with de-selection by hard-Left activists in her Liverpool constituency. ALThoUGh

Ms Berger herself was disloyal to Mr Corbyn when she quit the shadow Cabinet last year as part of a botched coup against him, such treatment of a woman who is on maternity leave is abhorrent.

Fellow Blairite MPs Chuka Umunna, Margaret hodge and stella Creasy also face a similar threat.

Mr Corbyn is seen by many as a man of principle, but he will lose that reputation if he allows the Labour Party to be captured by the 21st- century version of Militant Tendency. he already lost much respect when he shamefully tried to make political capital out of the tragedy of Grenfell Tower by allowing shadow Chancellor John McDonnell to say the victims of the fire were ‘politically murdered’.

equally, Mr Corbyn should have spoken out publicly against the new ugly Left- wing which is behind an evil campaign of hate which has targeted women Tory MPs.

This has seen them receiving photographs of decapitated children with the words ‘Blood is on your hands. You will be next’ — and anti-semitic attacks.

By not condemning such behaviour, Mr Corbyn risks giving the public the impression that he condones it.

Complicit in this thuggish behaviour are many of his backbench MPs. Last week, when the Tories tried to hold a Commons debate on the ‘appalling abuse’ by Corbynistas in the election campaign, Labour MPs sabotaged their attempt by spending three hours debating parliamentary procedure instead.

I respect Jeremy Corbyn but he should be ashamed of allowing his MPs to block such an important debate on how our democracy is being despoiled by vile harassment, racist and anti- semitic slurs. swastikas have been daubed on Tory leaflets, too.

If Mr Corbyn does not manage to discipline his militant outriders, the support he won in June will quickly evaporate.

Contrary to all expectations, it is Jeremy Corbyn and not Theresa May who faces the biggest problems as MPs set off on their 46-day summer recess.